by on

Morning film fiends!

Feast your eyes on this collection of upcoming celluloid awesomeness –

Now available On Demand, and coming soon to DVD (pre-order the DVD from Target), THE TENT is the latest film from award-winning filmmaker Kyle Couch.

Winner of multiple awards, and featuring an applauded turn from actor Tim Kaiser, the end-of-days thriller fixes on an apocalyptic event that leaves a man isolated and alone on the edge of the wilderness. Soon enough, another survivor emerges who disrupts the fragile balance of power.
Lulu Dahl and Shelby Bradley co-star in THE TENT, available from Gravitas Ventures.

An apocalyptic event known as The Crisis has devastated David’s world leaving him to rely on survival tactics learned from childhood. Isolated and alone, David has taken refuge in a tent on the edge of the wilderness. Soon enough, another survivor emerges, Mary, who immediately begins questioning David’s tactics and ultimately putting them in the crosshairs of “Those Who Walk In Darkness”, unseen creatures that may or may not be responsible for The Crisis.

Sylvia, a lonely 20-something, goes searching for answers after her friend mysteriously vanishes in Whitehall, NY, an Adirondack town known for its Bigfoot sightings. She sets off with a mysterious, charming young woman, Alex, hellbent on getting to Whitehall for different reasons. Sylvia soon learns that hiding in the woods is an evil more sinister than she could ever imagine.

From director Bruce Wemple, and starring Anna Shields, Rachel Finninger, Grant Schumacher, Hannah McKechnie, Catharine Daddario, Dylan Grunn, Peter Stray, Rick Montgomery Jr., and Thomas Brazzle , MONSTROUS premieres On Demand and DVD August 11 from Uncork’d Entertainment.

A murderer finds himself on trial in Hell, caught between a bitter prosecutor and an inexperienced defense attorney.

With an electrifying cast also including Scottie Thompson (TWELVE MONKEYS), Richard Riehle (TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION), Veronica Cartwright (ALIEN), Lew Temple (ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD), Mandela Van Peebles (JIGSAW) and Rebekah Kennedy (CRIMINAL MINDS),  feel the heat this summer with LIMBO.

LIMBO, from writer/director Mark Young, premieres August 4 on DVD and Digital from Uncork’d Entertainment.

On a final note –  to any aspiring independent filmmakers, podcasters or film related writers out there out there reading this, let me know if you’d like me to publicize and/or review your projects, The Stricken Land is always happy to promote new talent and ideas! And as ever, please feel free to share this post and any others on here that you like, far and wide.

Spread the Word!
Ian

by on

Underwater (USA 2019) Dir: William Eubank
Kristen Stewart, Vincent Cassel, Mamadou Athie

In the near future, an ethically dodgy mining corporation has constructed a huge drilling rig seven miles below the ocean surface at the bottom of the Mariana trench.

Opening with a monologue by Hollywood pixie Kristen Stewart consisting of some cod-philosophical word salad, director Eubank’s second effort soon gets down to business when a huge underwater earthquake rips through the rig killing most of its crew.

Realising they are fubared with a capital F, the survivors led by Nora (Stewart) and Captain Lucien (a suitably grizzled Cassel), must attempt a hazardous underwater trek along the seabed in order to reach another station that houses functioning escape pods that will take them to the surface. However, the drilling operation and subsequent earthquake has awakened a previously unknown hostile species…

UNDERWATER looks great, the cast is good and the film succeeds mightily in generating its claustrophobic hostile environment and the tense race against time pace that is central to its premise. The problem the film has is that it doesn’t really add anything new to the ‘creatures beneath the sea’ sci-fi/horror sub genre. Consequently it comes off as a rather expensive but po-faced update of 80’s straight to video faves like DEEPSTAR SIX and LEVIATHAN, and certainly doesn’t have the conceptual chops of it’s big budget genre stablemates like THE ABYSS. A well made genre entry with some inventive deaths and lovely production design, alas let down by its formulaic story and an over-reliance on see-it-all-before CGI in the third act.

by on

Morning film fiends!

Feast your eyes on this collection of upcoming celluloid glory –

The world of wrestling meets the bloody battlefields of horror in this July’s PARTS UNKNOWN.
After losing their livelihoods, a crazed family of disgraced professional wrestlers embarks on a spree of murder and carnage to satisfy a deal made with a demonic entity from another dimension.
William DeCoff, Alexandra Cipolla, and Sarah Michelle star in a Richard Chandler film!
PARTS UNKNOWN. body slams onto DVD and Digital July 7 from Wild Eye Releasing.

Horror icon Jamie Bernadette (I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE: DEJA VU, 4/20 MASSACRE)  stars in DEAD BY DAWN, from Uncork’d Entertainment.

A suicidal man in a remote cabin is suddenly faced with protecting a kidnapped woman from three killers and their sadistic games. Unable to contact the outside world and with night falling, he falls backs on creating traps to prevent the criminals from gaining entry. It’s a fight to the death where only the strongest will survive until dawn.

From director Sean Cain, and co-starring Drew Lindsey Mitchell, Kelcey Watson, Bo Burroughs, Timothy Muskatell, Bobby Slaski, Detra Hicks, and Skylar Dominique, DEAD BY DAWN available on DVD and Digital now.

Micah Lyons, Tom Sizemore (HEAT, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN) and Glenn Morshower (24, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS) star in white-knuckle action-thriller THE RUNNERS, premiering this summer On Demand and DVD.

After losing their parents in a car accident, Ryan must raise his rebellious teenage sister, Zoe. One night, Zoe sneaks out to a party and is abducted by a charming older boy who intends to sell her to the cartel for human trafficking. Now, Ryan and his best friend have just hours to track them down and save her before she is sold and dragged across the Mexican border, never to be seen again.

From directors Joey Loomis and Micah Lyons, and starring Micah Lyons, Netty Leach, Joey Loomis, Tom Sizemore, Neal McCoy, Glenn Morshower, Jason Peter Kennedy, and Swayde McCoy, THE RUNNERS is available 7/14 on DVD and Digital from Uncork’d Entertainment.

ALL HAIL THE POPCORN KING paints a vivid picture of award-winning author and screenwriter Joe R. Lansdale who’s written over 50 novels and 500 short stories including BUBBA HO-TEP and COLD IN JULY. Joe is also a Master in Martial Arts and created his own technique. He’s well known for his unique voice andhis generosity and support of other writers and filmmakers.

Filmmaker Hansi Oppenheimer chronicles the life and career of the Lone Star State’s “writer of the purple rage” (The Austin Chronicle), the acclaimed documentary also features new interviews with the likes of Bruce Campbell, James Purefoy, Joe Hill, Don Coscarelli, Mick Garris, Del Howison, Amber Benson, novelist David J. Schow and former Fangoria editor Tony Timpone.

On a final note –  to any aspiring independent filmmakers, podcasters or film related writers out there out there reading this, let me know if you’d like me to publicize and/or review your projects, The Stricken Land is always happy to promote new talent and ideas! And as ever, please feel free to share this post and any others on here that you like, far and wide.

Spread the Word!
Ian

by on

Lifeforce (1985) Dir: Tobe Hooper Steve Railsback, Mathilda May, Peter Firth, Frank Finlay

Loosely based on Colin Wilson’s novel ‘The Space Vampires’, The Golan-Globus Cannon empire was at the height of its powers when they released this insanely entertaining slab of sci fi horror.An Anglo US space mission encounters a mysterious alien spaceship riding the tail of Haley’s Comet. Of the crew only Steve Railsback makes it back to Blighty with one of the aliens (euro strumpet Mathilda May) in tow. The naked-for-the-entire-film May then proceeds to break out of the secure facility she’s in and reveals herself to be a gribbly space vampire in disguise and proceeds to turn most of London into slavering zombies. SAS man Cain (Peter Firth) is on the trail replete in roll neck sweater mowing down hordes of undead in his Ford Cortina estate right up to the final showdown on the steps of St Paul’s. With earnest support from Patrick Stewart and a scenery chewing Frank Finlay, this features a great score, brilliantly imaginative production design and a bonkers exploitation plot that the whole cast do a great job of taking seriously. I waited weeks for this to come off loan in the video shop back in the day, and I still hold affection for it now. Simply incredible.